


Day 1 Sheith

by oopsthisisqueertoo



Series: Asexual Awareness Week [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Asexual Awareness Week, Asexual Character, Coming Out, Graysexual Shiro, Keith wants the red lion to burn him to a crisp, Language, M/M, No Spoilers, Pining, SHEITH - Freeform, at least i think, demisexual keith, shiro is clueless, who knows what season this is?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-18 15:00:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12390471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oopsthisisqueertoo/pseuds/oopsthisisqueertoo
Summary: In honor of the Season 4 finale, Keith gets to be my first toy for Asexual Awareness Week!!! Keith here is portrayed as a demisexual who is very in love and attracted to Shiro. Shiro is greysexual and clueless.Or: Shiro keeps getting weird vibes from Keith and they finally have a discussion.





	Day 1 Sheith

>Shiro<

Shiro just wanted to go home.

He wanted a hot bath, approximately seven plates of Coco curry, and to laze on the couch for weeks. He wanted to disappear for a bit. For his biggest concern to be deciding what he wanted to drink or falling asleep in the bath. After a month or so of that he might be ready to rejoin normal society.

But instead, he was in space. Not only was he in some unthinkable far reach of the universe, he was also leading a crack team of teenagers to defeat an evil space ruler who had been slaughtering people for over ten thousand years who seemed to have countless warriors who rather die than surrender and endless resources to further his rule.

_Quiznak_.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He would do anything for a nap right about now, but Keith had called him to the training deck yet again to spar. Team building exercises he’d called it.

Shiro was glad Keith spent so much time training. Space was a heatless violent father and the better Keith got, the less Shiro had to worry about him. Shiro needed him to train more. The universe needed him to.

But trainings had been a bit . . . tense since they’d been reunited after the Kerberos mission, to say the least, and they only seemed to become more strained as the war continued.

Shiro and Keith had met at the Garrison when Shiro was an instructor and Keith was a student. Shiro had taken Keith under his wing and shown him he was a valuable human being when no one else cared what happened to him, let alone if he graduated. When he was just a kid with anger problems to everyone else. The two had become close. Whispers surrounded them. Some that they were dating. Others that Shiro had adopted Keith. Even more whispers and giggles that they were brothers who were also lovers.

And the two were close. Keith acted like he owed Shiro his life. He was monstrously concerned and focused on Shiro. After Keith had begun to trust Shiro more, his defenses fell and he became easy going and almost affectionate to him. Slowly that began to change. He began subtlety brushing against Shiro or letting his eyes linger a fraction of a second too long. At first Shiro had ignored it. Then he thought maybe Keith was idolizing him or treating him like a father.

Eventually though, the touches began to linger a little longer. The glances became stares. Keith began requesting more time with Shiro. The whispers continued. There were shoulder touches and long seconds elapsing where Keith searched into Shiro’s eyes as if he was hesitant, waiting for an answer that Shiro didn’t know, that became more frequent.

>Keith<

Keith lunged at Shiro with all his might, sword in hand and a grunt emitting as he went. Shiro narrowly dodged and knocked Keith’s sword from his hand. Using Shiro’s late response as an opportunity, Keith used his shoulder to slam Shiro to the ground and pull his Galra knife out. He ended up with both legs straddling Shiro and the blade sitting inches from his throat. Shiro glistened with sweat. He slowly raised his hands up in surrender and smiled.

“Great job Keith! I’m glad to see that you’re so calm during battle now.”

Keith could feel the tension rising inside him. His eyebrow quirked from reflex.

_He always does this._

Keith found himself searching in Shiro’s eyes again. He didn’t understand how Shiro could be so calm, so diplomatic when Keith was straddling him. He didn’t understand how Shiro didn’t understand his feelings.

_No. He knows. Since he left on the Kerberos mission. He knows. He just doesn’t reciprocate._

Keith could feel his blood boiling and rushing through him. His anger was rising. Mostly at himself. He closed his eyes and tried to stabilize his breathing while he attempted to rationalize with himself.

“Uh. Keith?” Shiro’s voice prompted from below him.

Keith’s eyes snapped open to find Shiro still in-between Keith’s legs on the ground.

“Oh. Sorry Shiro.” He mumbled as he stood up and held a hand out to help Shiro up.

As Shiro took his hand, Keith could feel a warmth travel up his arm and go straight to his soul. A warmth that only Shiro could provide. A feeling that only Shiro had given him.

A warmth that stirred Keith in the night while others slept.

>Shiro<

Shiro could see Keith had that look in his eyes again. That look of shame and embarrassment. Of having lost control and giving in to his desire to be close to Shiro.

“Why don’t we call it a day for now? We have a big mission tomorrow and we need to be in top form.” Shiro firmly directed. Anything to separate them right now. Keith was reaching his limits, physically and mentally, and they both knew it.

“Yeah. Whatever” Keith mumbled and turned away from Shiro quickly, leaving him behind in the training room.

_He hates me._

Letting out a sigh, Shiro made his way to his room. He hoped that maybe a shower would help push his worries about Keith away.

After his shower, Shiro lay in his bed fully engaged in a staring contest with the ceiling. After spending a year as a Galra prisoner, he didn’t sleep much even though it left him perpetually exhausted. Instead he used that time to think. He tried to map out plans and ideas. Things that the team needed to work on. Resources they could use.

But often, his mind wandered. He thought about his team. The life he had before. About Keith.

And he would remember things. Fragments. Things he should remember. Things that felt important.

_Shiro, there’s something I need to tell you._

A scowl formed on Shiro’s face. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about Keith. They were in war. Keith was his teammate. Anything that Keith had said before all this was irrelevant.

_I know you might see me as a brother figure, but I can’t accept that._

Shiro could feel his face twitching. His mechanical hand balling into a fist.

_I wasn’t going to tell you, but since you’ll be gone on the Kerberos mission so long . . ._

That was it. It looped again and again. Shiro couldn’t remember what came next. All he could remember were Keith’s eyes. They bore into Shiro, searching. Screaming.

_What was it?_

Shiro covered his eyes with his arm. Whatever it was, it’d changed the dynamic he and Keith had since they’d been reunited. Keith acted strange around Shiro more now. He was keeping something from him, but Shiro didn’t know what.

**. . .**

_Shiro, I . . ._

Alarms threw Shiro from his sleep. The Galra were attacking. He ran through the castle to his lion. Normally he was in gear at all times outside of the shower, but he’d tried, actually tried, to sleep last night and was therefore mostly naked, cloaked only in a black tank top and a pair of tight boxers. He was so focused on getting to his lion (and paladin ensemble) as quickly as possible that he didn’t hear footsteps approaching. He could only let out a light “ah!” before colliding with Keith.

Shiro jumped up immediately and held a hand out to help Keith up. Keith sat there, eyes wide and face redder than his lion, sputtering at Shiro. Shiro leaned down to grab him up, but Keith shot up and ran away screaming “I’m going to my lion!”.

Shiro didn’t have time to be confused about why Keith was so red. Or why it seemed like Keith was eyeing Shiro like he wanted to jump him.

He had a war to fight.

>Keith<

Keith didn’t know if he was blessed or cursed. Blessed because he ran into Shiro this morning. Cursed because the Galra were currently trying to kill him. Blessed because he got to see Shiro in scant clothing. Cursed because his erection was uncomfortable in his suit and distracting. Blessed because he got to fight with Shiro. Cursed because Shiro pretended Keith had never told him that he loved him. Cursed because Keith had to pretend like everything was alright.

_Definitely cursed._

Keith took out a line of cruisers in his anger.

“Nice work, Keith!” Shiro shouted over the headset.

Keith grumbled and didn’t respond. He couldn’t think about Shiro right now.

So he took all his frustration out during the impromptu battle, the mission they did later that day, and on the training deck after they got back. He had gotten to an upper level where he was fighting multiple enemies when another voice called out to terminate the training.

Confused, and drenched in sweat, he looked up to find Shiro looking contrite and with blood beginning to trickle down his arm.

“You’re bleeding!” he blurted out. Concern washed over his body and pushed away his anger from the day and annoyance from being interrupted.

Shiro looked confused and followed where Keith pointed at his arm. “Oh. When you threw that knife earlier, it ricocheted off the robot and grazed me. I didn’t even notice it was bleeding.” He shrugged his shoulders a bit. “You need to be sleeping though. You can’t train yourself to death. Your well-being is vital to this team. Everyone needs to be in tip top shape.”.

Keith felt himself snarling. He didn’t care about himself. The team didn’t matter in comparison to Shiro. He’d fight to the death for him.

“Come on, Keith. Let me walk you to your room.” Shiro ushered.

Keith gave a sigh and gave in. Shiro was right. He was always right. He was so calm and always rational. That was part of the reason he loved him. He wasn’t going to give up on him.

“Okay, but let me clean your cut.” Keith counteroffered.

Shiro glanced back down at his arm. “I really don’t think that’s necessary. I can take care of it.”

“No treatment, no rest.” Keith said firmly and crossed his arms.

“Alright” Shiro said with an exasperated sigh.

>Shiro<

Shiro followed Keith back to his room. He sat on his bed as instructed and waited for Keith to find some disinfectant and a bandage.

Returning, Keith immediately ordered “Shirt off”.

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Surely some disinfectant and a band-aid or some Altean equivalent would do? It’s really not that serious.”

Keith quirked a smirk for the first time Shiro had seen all day. “You know that nothing that’s Altean is that simple. I found this goo stuff and I think it’s going to be messy. So shirt off.”

Shiro chucked and obediently removed his shirt. Keith sat beside him on the bed. Shiro could feel Keith’s intent gaze directed toward his torso. He felt somewhat ashamed and embarrassed. He was covered in scars from when he was a prisoner. None had been taken care of properly. Some had been stitched back together with things he wasn’t sure weren’t living entities. He shuddered to think about those. Self-consciously, he shifted away from Keith’s gaze and stared at the floor.

He felt something cold being rubbed on his cut and glanced at Keith. Keith was gently massaging the goo in and adamantly refusing to look near Shiro’s face.

“Does it bother you that much?” Keith said softly. Much too soft for his usual tempered self.

Unsure what he was talking about, Shiro made a guess at topic. “It’s not that cold.” He smiled warmly at Keith.

“I’m not talking about the goo. I’m talking about me.” He responded in an even quieter tone.

Shiro hummed. “What do you mean you?”

Keith removed his hand from Shiro’s arm and began to wipe it off, still avoiding Shiro’s eye.

“Forget about it.” He muttered as he reached for the bandage.

“No. Keith, what are you talking about?”

“I said forget about it.” He gritted through his teeth.

A little something in Shiro snapped. He cared for Keith a lot. He was exuberantly fond of him. So much so that if they weren’t in a war in the middle of space he might have to question exactly how fond of Keith he was.

But they were in war right now and the tension between them was a liability.

Raising his voice a little he took a stern tone with Keith, something he never did.

“I don’t know why you’re so angry at me all the time. I don’t remember everything that happened before Kerberos. I don’t know what I could’ve done to piss you off so much that you shoot daggers at me every chance you get, but we’re working it out now! We can’t go on like this! We’re a team and we have to have each other’s backs.”

 Keith gaped at Shiro. “You . . . You don’t . . . Remember?”

Shiro rubbed the back of his head, suddenly feeling a bit like an asshole. “I remember most things. Bits of just before Kerberos are weird. Then everything after until after you saved me.”

Keith still sat there, mouth gaping and face reddening. Shiro wondered what was wrong with him.

Keith cleared his throat and took a deep breath before he spoke. His eyes locked and gazed intently on Shiro.

“Well . . .” he started “I don’t hate you. I would do anything for you. I love you.”

“I know you do. We’ve been through a lot togeth-“

“No.” Keith interjected “Not like that. I’m IN love with you Shiro. I think. . .  I think I always have been. Even when you were my instructor. I couldn’t help it. You helped me realize that I’m deserving of love and happiness. You’re the logic to my raw emotion. But also. . .” He bit his lip and faced away from Shiro. “You’re the only one I’ve. . . ever. . . wanted to. . .”

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he watched Keith get frustrated over a sentence make exasperated sounds.  Tired of stuttering, Keith balled his fists up and shut his eyes. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted to have sex with, Shiro!”

Shiro opened his mouth to speak, but Keith raised his hand to stop him. He brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, facing away from Shiro. “You don’t have to reply. I tried to tell you before Kerberos, but it didn’t work out. I get it. You thought of me as a brother then and a teammate now. Or you think I’m projecting on to you. I’m not. I love you. And. . . The sex thing. I’m not just horny because we’re isolated here.  I. . . I’ve never wanted to have anything to do sexually with anyone before. No one. I for sure don’t want to fuck any of the other teammates. Not Allura. Not Lance. Even though I can tell that they’re both very pretty. It’s only you. It sounds silly, I know, but my body has only ever wanted you. You’re the only one I know well enough and trust enough to think about that with. And that’s big. I felt broken for so long. Normal people aren’t like that. But with you. . . I guess I’ve been angry all the time because I had to stare at the man I love, who rejected me, pretend that my feelings didn’t exist.

>Keith<

Keith could feel his face on fire. He’d just confessed to Shiro. Again. It was almost as bad as the first time, except this time it was exponentially worse in ways. He’d told him about how he pined for him. He’d talked about how he wanted to have sex with him. He’d openly admitted to being gay again. And now he was doomed to fight a war along side him with those admissions in the open.

_Red. If you can hear me, please come burn me to a crisp so I won’t have to suffer through this rejection again._

He felt a hand on his shoulder and winced out of fear of what was to come. Shiro would let him down gently. Let him know that he cared, like a brother. Then he’d walk out of the room and things would be more awkward than they were before all of this for weeks.

“I’m kinda relieved.” Shiro chuckled.

Keith knit his eyebrows in confusion.

_Did I hear disgusted?_

“I really did think you hated me.”

“I could never hate you, Shiro.”

“I know you couldn’t. I need a minute to process this, though. Would you mind-“

Keith shot up from the bed.

“I’ll leave. I’ll be in the training room if you want me.”

“No, no. I don’t need that much time. I just wanted you to bandage my cut. This goo is getting colder by the second.”

“Oh.” Keith breathed out.

He shakily picked up the bandages and began to dress Shiro’s arm.

“Keith.” Shiro began, causing Keith to drop the bandage. “We’re in a war.”

Keith’s stomach dropped.

_I knew this was coming._

“I’d never really thought of you that way. I was your teacher and you were my student. More than that, you were a minor. I could never break those boundaries.”

_Lawful good Shiro._

“But now. You’re an adult and those limitations are gone.”

_What?_

Keith looked up, puzzled.

“I’m not saying than I can reciprocate your feelings.”

_There it is._

“What I am saying is that I don’t think of you as a brother and you’re definitely not a student anymore. You are a teammate, but. . . I don’t think of you the same as I think of the others. You and I are closer. I trust you. I’m fond of you.” He sighed and continued, “I think that if things weren’t like they are, maybe we could give it a shot, but I can’t consider it right now. The team. The universe depends on us.”

Keith’s mind was racing.

_So... I have a chance?_

_He’s not disgusted?_

“And.” Shiro continued “You’re not broken.”

“What?” Keith blurted out before Shiro could continue.

“You’re not broken just because you haven’t been sexually attracted to anyone before. Sometimes humans just don’t want sex or experience the need for it. It’s called being asexual and it sounds like you might be demisexual. It means you’re only sexually interested in someone who you’ve well acquainted with.”

“I. What?” Keith sputtered. This conversation kept getting more and more confusing.

Shiro chucked. “Well. I. Uh. I got bullied a lot when I was a teenager. I didn’t want to spend time with girls so everyone thought I was just gay. I didn’t want to spend time with guys either though. I’d be asked if I was into girls or guys and I’d just reply space because I was. One day I told that to a girl and she just gaped at me and whispered ‘space ace’. I did research and it turns out I’m asexual. Specifically, I’m greysexual. I pretty much don’t experience sexual attraction. When I get extra stressed, or overworked, or get kidnapped, or am fighting a war, it completely disappears.”

Keith snickered. “That explains why you thought I hated you. I wasn’t glaring at you. I was ogling you. I’d never been aroused by anyone before. So when it happened with you, I was kind of overwhelmed. It’s addictive. I don’t know how normal people function having urges like that toward multiple people.”

“You. . . were what?” Shiro exclaimed and reached for his shirt jokingly. “I thought I raised you to be a decent man, not a, a pervert!”

“What? Shiro!” Keith tried to scoff, but ended up laughing.

Shiro moved his shirt to cover his pecks. “I can believe I’ve been getting sexually harassed this entire time! You’re more relentless than Zarkon!”

Keith just groaned. He feared he’d made a mistake by re-confessing to Shiro. Especially if it was going to be like this. He closed his eyes and tried to shake his head in embarrassment, but felt a hand tugging his head forward. Shiro gently pressed his forehead against Keith’s and smiled.

“If we survive this war, let me take you out on a date to make up for unintentionally making you suffer” he murmured.

“Keith gave a light nod against his forehead. “Let’s go fight Zarkon now.”

Shiro laughed and began to pull away from Keith. Keith swooped in and pecked him on the cheek and ran for the door yelling, “I’m going back to the training deck!”.

“Keith! Keith! Come back here! You still haven’t finished wrapping my arm!”


End file.
